


Light in Her Darkness

by ISeeFire



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, BAMF Bilbo, Crack, Drama, F/M, Feels, Female Bilbo Baggins, Romance, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars Setting, hurt comfort, kilbo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-03-01 14:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18802591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ISeeFire/pseuds/ISeeFire
Summary: Bilba, a bounty hunter in the Old Republic, is forced by a mysterious employer to target a young Jedi named Kili Durin. Do it or face being outed for the rather ridiculous bounty she has on her own head. Bilba obeys, only to find out that Kili Durin is the single most frustrating, annoying, jerk she's ever met.Her jerk employer is actually paying her for this, coerced or not, and it's quite a bit of money.It's not enough to justify her having to deal with Kili Durin though.No amount of money will ever be enough for that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Continuation of my one shot story idea from my Baby Stories fic (so if this chapter sounds familiar to you, that's why! I did tweak/re-edit it a bit but it's effectively the same). Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy! :)

Bilba strode down the long hall, irritation rapidly mounting. Behind her she could hear the rapid sound of boots as the guards tried to keep up with her without entirely abandoning their dignity. She briefly considered breaking into a run, just to be contrary, but abandoned the idea. Given how much she’d already been aggravating them, they were liable to simply shoot her and be done with it.

Her eyes cast about, trying to find something that would identify the owner of the place she'd been forcibly dragged to. It was clear the mansion had been designed to impress, every inch given to loudly proclaiming the owner's wealth and prestige. The outside had been near palatial in size and layout, built from massive, sand colored blocks and boasting numerous towers and rotundas, the latter capped with cupolas laid out in glittering gold and red tile.

Given the empty halls she'd been marched through, and the heavy silence broken only by her own steps, she had to question how much of the estate was inhabited.

They'd brought her from the spaceport in a shuttle, a deliberate choice she imagined, to ensure she saw the splendor of the estate. The house was surrounded by enormous gardens, filled with exotic trees and plants; many she'd recognized, others she had not. A crystal-clear pool lay in the center of a complex looking hedge maze, bordered by what looked like gold-trimmed marble.

The interior, so far, was proving no less ostentatious. The halls were wide enough to march an army through, the floors polished marble and covered with thick rugs portraying Arkanian dragons. Alcoves had been built into the walls and housed statues of various creatures. Bilba recognized a Howler, Mantigrue and Krayt but couldn't identify some of the others. One was a massive statue depicting a strange worm-like creature with horns and multiple legs she was quite sure she never wished to meet.

The end of the hall loomed ahead of her, finally, dominated by an equally huge set of doors. They were made from some sort of wood and carved with still more images of reptilian creatures, many of them inlaid with jewels.

Bilba expected the doors to open before her with an all too familiar hiss and was startled to have to pull up just in front of them as they failed to do anything at all. She blinked in surprise. The door wasn’t pneumatic? She looked closer but saw no signs of a shield or any other kind of technology.

It looked like it was just simply…a door.

Who wasted so many resources on showing off their wealth and then installed doors that had to be physically opened?

One of the guards that had been "escorting" her, stalked past her and pushed the doors open. Light spilled into the dim hallway and the sensors in her helmet adjusted, dimming the screen over her eyes before she could be momentarily blinded.

The light came from huge windows set in the wall on the opposite side of the room, overlooking the gardens outside. A large desk dominated the area in front of the windows. Bookcases lined the walls and a large rug, matching the ones from the hall, was spread out across the floor.

One of the guards pushed her and she barely resisted the urge to punch him. Her exoskeleton armor enhanced her strength, ensuring the experience would be decidedly unpleasant for him.  

Lifting her chin, Bilba strode in and stopped in a wide stance, hands clasped behind her back. To anyone looking, she'd hopefully appear to be the very picture of nonchalance and disinterest. That was the nice thing about full body armor, it could be used to showcase her anger and nothing else. No sign of the way her hands were sweating under her gloves, no hint on her face of the fact that her gut was clenching, or her heart was currently racing in her chest.

The guards took up position behind her, one on either side, close enough to be annoying, not close enough for her to risk going for one of their blasters.

“Pollux Destron,” a deep voice, far too smooth for her liking, caught her attention. “I’m pleased you were able to make it.”

“Cut the crap,” Bilba snapped, the synthesizer in her helmet deepening her voice and giving it a decidedly masculine quality. Not afraid, she reminded herself. Her father would have never been afraid, just angry. “You attacked my ship and forced me here against my will. Who are you and what do you want?”

Movement came from a large chair set in front of a fireplace on her right. A tall, spindly man with short dark hair and a sinister cast to his expression rose and, almost sinuously, came toward her.

“Straight to the point,” he nearly purred. “I knew I liked you.”

He paused, probably hoping for a reaction from her. At the very least a question as to how he knew her name.

Bilba stayed silent. He'd already put her off her footing by effectively kidnapping her, and further still by proving her knew her name while she knew nothing about him. The last thing she wanted to do was play into his hands any further. She was no one's puppet.

He looked irritated for a brief instant but then his expression smoothed, and he moved toward his desk. “Fine. You are here because I have a job for you.”

“Then why didn’t you contact me like someone sane?” Bilba growled through clenched teeth. “Why all the drama?”

His only response was to open a drawer and pull out a small holoprojector. Dropping it on the desk he waved a hand over it and a small holographic scene popped into view over it.

Bilba's unease increased, but she pushed it aside and instead moved closer to study the holovid.  

It depicted a young man, human or humanoid at least, striding purposefully down a street. It was hard to judge his height or build, but he had shoulder length hair partly tied back and dark eyes. His profile was young to the point of boyish and she wondered if the light stubble he wore was meant to make him look older. He carried himself with confidence, grin on his face and moving with an odd gait that she almost wanted to describe as a happy bounce.

Her eyes went to his clothing and narrowed as she took in the telltale beige tunic and trousers, the dark boots and the brown cloak flowing about him. Her throat went dry and one hand began to convulsively clench into a fist at her side. Someone spoke to him as he passed them and he turned to face them. Her eyes fell to his hip as the cloak swirled, and there it was, a slender, metal tube hanging from his belt.

“No.” Bilba said, stepping away from the desk as if the man in the video could somehow see her from the recording. As far as she knew, he could. “Absolutely not.”

She headed toward the doors, only to come to a stop as they slammed shut. A cold feeling fell over her and the clenching in her gut turned into a solid rock.  

Not afraid, she reminded herself. How would her father have reacted?

She shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and then steeled herself and turned around. "I don’t do bounties on Jedi," she said, trying to channel the steel she'd always heard in her father's voice. "If you want him that badly get him yourself."

“I have better things to do,” he answered, coolly. He drew a credit chip from his pocket and tossed it to her. Bilba caught it on reflex, looked down and nearly felt her heart stop at the amount listed on it.  

“As you can see,” the man with no-name said, “I am more than willing to pay.”

Bilba chewed on her lower lip, studying the chip. With that kind of money, she could finally do what her parents hadn't been able to do, disappear. "What did he do?”

“He annoyed me,” came the sharp answer. “Isn’t that enough?”

“No.” Bilba bit back a sigh and tossed the chip onto the desk. “I don’t go after Jedi, and I don't go after the innocent. For that amount of money, I _might_ have considered going after a corrupt Jedi," assuming she had an army behind her and no possibility of him finding out who she was to target her for revenge if she failed, "but not an innocent one. Find someone else.”

He made a tsking sound as if she were a wayward child. “I had hoped to do this the easy way but, if you insist…” He picked up the chip and a nearby Holopad. He then came around the desk and up to her. This close, he was taller than her despite the lifts she wore in her boots, and she resisted the urge to crane her neck back to look up at him. Her fingers did, however, flex instinctively toward the empty holster strapped around her thigh and waist.

The man grabbed her gloved hand and carefully wrapped her fingers around the chip and Holopad. “You will kill him for me,” he said, voice cold, “and you will spread the word about how fair and generous an employer I am so that your contemporaries will seek work with me as well. Is that clear?”

“And if I don’t?” Bilba growled, her anger rising once again and displacing some of the fear. She tried to pull her hand free, but he tightened his grip. As slight as he was, and with her augmented strength, she should have been able to pull free. Instead, he held her as firm as if her arm were encased in durasteel.

He grinned; his teeth almost unnaturally white. “Or I may just be forced to collect on the bounty currently out on _you,_ your Highness. I hear it’s quite high.”

Bilba sucked in a sharp breath and ice flooded her veins. Black spots danced in her vision and she physically swayed as a wave of dizziness washed over her. How could he possibly have found out? She'd been so _careful_.

“The name Pollux Destron carries weight,” the man said, ignoring her reaction. “Having you on my payroll and spreading the word about my…generosity is useful to me.”

And having blackmail on her was no doubt a bonus.

Bilba ground her teeth. She could still deny it, _should_ deny it, but it'd be empty, meaningless. He clearly already knew, and if he did it meant there was a leak somewhere, one that needed to be plugged at once. “How did you find out?”

"Your secret is safe with me." He finally released her and returned to his desk, sinking into the large, leather armchair behind it. "Assuming you do as I command, of course."

“You assume I can even do it," Bilba said, hoping the synthesizer masked the way her voice shook. "The Jedi will kill me the second he senses me coming.”

A slow, languid smile spread against her new employer’s face. “Oh, but my dear,” he said, pushing back up again, “did you think I would just send you out as you were?” He headed toward a side door, gesturing for her to follow him. “I have a few toys I think might help." He opened one of the doors and faced her once again. "Let’s see if you’re as good as the original Pollux, shall we?”

 

***

 

Several weeks later, Bilba found her fear had abated, utterly overwhelmed by irritation and sheer _frustration_.  

She stalked down the street of the dust pit masquerading itself as a planet, mentally cursing the day she’d ever heard the name Kili Durin. She would say that he was, without a doubt, the single most infuriating human she’d ever met if it weren’t for the fact she hadn’t _met him yet._

Every time she thought she was close it was only to find out she'd just missed him, sometimes by mere hours. Then it was back to tracking, back to long hyperjumps, back to more damn _frustration_ until she found him again, only for him to once more slip her grasp.

At first she’d been relieved. She really didn't have a death wish and approaching a Jedi, much less attacking one, was low on her list of things she wanted to accomplish in her life. Perhaps her employer would simply get annoyed and just forget the whole thing. She could return to her life and the Jedi could continue being irritating toward someone who wasn't her.

As the days had stretched into weeks, however, her relief had slowly turned to annoyance.

Now she was just pissed.

The information she'd been given initially had listed Durin’s last known location, but it had been woefully outdated. It had taken her days to track where he'd gone and by the time she'd reached _that_ place he'd moved on to the next, and the next after that. She was half convinced he was doing it on purpose, but she’d never gotten close enough to tip him off that she was even there.

Now, trapped on some Outer Rim planet she barely remembered the name of, she was angry, exhausted and felt like she was literally baking inside her armor. Her new employer, who was still nameless because he was an ass, had given her an armor crafted from Beskar. It was nearly indestructible, and would resist just about anything, including lightsabers. It had long been a dream of hers to own a set, but she'd quickly found out why her father had always refused to let her have it.  

The armor was blasted heavy.

So heavy she’d been virtually unable to move wearing it and was pretty sure she’d lost a few inches in height through spinal compression. Given how short she already was without the lifts in her shoes, this was several inches she could not afford to lose.

She’d ended up going back to her normal black Mandalorian crusader armor. Perhaps it wouldn’t be complete protection against a lightsaber but at least she’d be able to walk in it. She'd been forced to remove the jetpack to accommodate the second gift the ass had given her, a heavy frame with a furry...lizard...thing hanging on it. A Ysalamiri, a creature that reportedly repelled the Force and would give her an actual fighting chance.

She looked like an idiot but if the thing did as advertised she’d take it.

A building came into view, a squat, beige dome much like all the other buildings in the area. Her maps had identified it as a cantina and, given how awful the planet was as a whole, she was inclined to believe it did steady work.

Her stomach twisted inside her and her steps slowed. As much as she'd been trying to catch up to him, now that she had, it wasn't nearly the thrill she'd been expecting.

She really, _really_ didn't want to do this.

It wasn’t just the fact she was about to face a Jedi, assuming he was even there and hadn’t already left _again_.

It was the fact he was innocent and she was being ordered to kill him.

Guilt gnawed at her. Her father had raised her with a strong moral code, bounty hunter or not. He didn’t go after the innocent, and neither did she. Her father had only taken contracts for wanted criminals, and he brought them in alive except for rare occasions where the target really didn’t want to go back and he was forced to kill in self-defense.

Bilba had always prided herself on following in her father’s footsteps. She used his name and his armor and his reputation, and she did her best to not tarnish any of it in the process.

And now look at her.

She huffed out a breath and clenched her hands open and closed before shaking them out, trying to rid herself of the nerves.

There was no way to rid herself of the guilt.

Finally she forced herself forward, her back straightening and her walk becoming the sure, fearless stride her father had taught her. Never show fear. She was a machine, merciless, emotionless, fearless.

A burst of cool air hit her as she entered, and she had to suppress the desire to slump and sigh in relief. The interior was darker than outside, and her helmet adjusted accordingly, the soft whirr loud in her ears as the screen over her eyes shifted.

She took another few steps inside, already prepared to blend in, wander aimlessly in the hopes of spotting her target without him...her thoughts trailed off as her brain finally caught up with what her eyes were seeing.  

The room was empty.

Well, almost empty…except for her target…Kili Durin…who was lounging in a chair balanced on its back legs in the center of the room, absently twirling his deactivated lightsaber in one hand.

Oh, Bilba thought inanely, this was bad. So very, very, very bad.

“It’s about time,” Kili said, idly. “I was starting to think I was going to have to come issue you a personal invitation.”

Bilba stared at him blankly for several long seconds and then, without thinking, blurted. “You _were_ doing it on purpose!”

He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“You knew I was following you!” Bilba accused, “and kept running off as soon as I got close.”

It was the only explanation. There was no other way he was sitting here so obviously ready for her unless he'd known in advance she was coming and the only way _that_ was possible was if he'd already known she was following him.

Asshole.

Her anger flared and she glared at him, not that he could see it through her helmet.

His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward in the seat so that the front legs of the chair hit the ground with a thunk. “You’re wearing a Ysalamiri. It’s kind of hard _not_ to notice the giant bubble of nothing!”

“Well how was I supposed to know that?” Bilba shot back in annoyance. “I don’t know what the damn things do to your stupid magic powers!”

“They aren’t magic powers,” Durin retorted, outraged. “It’s the Force. It’s a --”

“Heard it before, still sounds like magic,” Bilba broke in. Freaking Jedi, it was like the desire to lecture was bred into them. She drew the vibrosword that had been weighing her down on her right side.

It wasn't her usual choice of weapon. Her father had used blasters and trained her on them in turn. A Jedi could, normally, repel blaster bolts with their mystical force whatsit but she’d taken that away from him which meant she could probably just overwhelm him with a blaster...or, better yet, shoot him from a distance…but she just _couldn’t_.

It wasn't fair.

She'd never killed anyone and Durin hadn’t _done_ anything aside from piss her off and that certainly wasn’t deserving of _death_.

At least not yet anyway. At the rate he was going, he might have achieved that level of annoyance in another week or so.

Durin raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Really? You want to fight me with that?”

Bilba shrugged and activated the weapon, going into a stance. Her training kicked in and she felt her nerves calm, a coolness settling over her. This she could do. He didn't have his powers, she told herself. He was just another idiot she was going to have to defeat and then.... then...

Well, she'd deal with that when she came to it. Maybe he'd do her a favor and trip onto her sword and she could just.... not have to ever deal with it.

Durin shrugged in return and got to his feet. He was much taller than she'd thought and, even with the lifts in her shoes, she barely reached eye level to him. He was also broad shouldered and his figure under his robes looked fit and athletic. From up close, she could see he was older than the vid of him had suggested, not a boy at all but probably her own age, which meant he was in his prime if not just before it.

Great. That was just... just great. She couldn't have been sent after some, old, retired Jedi who hadn't fought in ages and used his lightsaber to trim the bushes, could she? No, it had to be _this_ guy.

Durin ignited his lightsaber, and a green blade appeared with a snap and hum that made her heartrate increase.

She raised her weapon, holding it tightly with both hands. Maybe he'd turn out to just be really terrible at fighting and she could get this over quickly and leave this entire forsaken solar system behind.

Durin went into a stance of his own, giving her an expectant look that turned strangely disappointed when she didn’t react. Bilba lunged forward, hoping to get the entire thing over sooner rather than later, and he deflected her blow with ease, his blade impacting hers and pushing it back.

Damn it, he could fight.

His eyes narrowed, focusing in on her weapon. “Cortosis-weave?”

Bilba grinned. “Cortosis-weave," she agreed, pleased at having finally caught him off guard even if only a little. "Good luck cutting through that with a lightsaber.”

He scowled. “Well this is going to be slightly less fun than I thought.”

Bilba rolled her eyes. "You could just give up."

He snorted. “Oh, I’m still going to kick your ass. I just won’t get the joy of slicing your weapon in half and seeing the look on your face.”

“I’m wearing a helmet,” Bilba retorted. “You wouldn’t have been able to see my face anyway.”

“True enough,” he said with a sigh. “You are a _massive_ killjoy, you know that?”

Bilba replied by attacking him again. He deflected that one as well and they shortly fell into a rhythm.

Durin fought like it was some sort of weird dance, coming at her with light jabs and cuts rather than trying to overwhelm her with sheer power or force, which he probably could have done had he wished.

Thankfully her father had trained her in various different forms of combat and she was able to match him, driving him back at times and being driven back herself in turn.

He got a few lucky blows in, adding a few more scorch marks to her armor. Had she not gotten back fast enough the blows probably would have cut straight through.

He left himself open a few times as well, his footwork not completely correct, his swing just a little too wide.

Each time she started to go for the opening only to find herself drawing back or hesitating long enough for the moment to pass.

Every time it happened she cursed herself for it and swore that the next time she’d take the opening.

The fight dragged on. He pushed her all over the cantina, forcing her to jump on and over tables. At one point she found herself fighting him standing on the bar, forcing her to pay attention to him and her feet at the same time lest she fall off the end of the counter and put herself entirely at his mercy.

It wasn’t long before her chest was heaving and her lungs burned with the need for more air. Her arms ached from having to hold the sword and her legs were rapidly tiring.

“Why is no one else coming in?” she gasped finally, disengaging from him to catch her breath. He allowed it, also dropping back until they were on opposite ends of the countertop. He was sweating and his breathing was a bit fast but not as bad as hers, the bastard.

“They don’t want to get involved I would imagine,” he answered. “I also may have mentioned a fight was coming to get everyone to leave. I’m sure they spread the word.”

“And security isn’t coming?” Bilba asked, mildly hopeful.

Durin looked amused. “It’s Tatooine. The crime lords are the security and I doubt they care to intervene. You should have offered them some of the bounty if you wanted their help.” He cocked his head slightly. “Speaking of which, how much is the bounty this time?”

“This time?” Bilba resisted the urge to bend over and put her hands on her knees. It was very, very tempting.

“I get a lot of bounties,” Durin said, still sounding bizarrely cheerful. “My family tends to pick up enemies. Some go after the person they’re mad at, others aren’t as particular and figure any Durin will do.”

“Family?” Bilba echoed. “I thought Jedi didn’t have family.”

“I was a special case,” Durin said, idly spinning his lightsaber with his hand. “And it doesn’t matter now anyway since I left the Order.”

Bilba dragged her sword up again, testing if she could actually hold it up or not. “If you left then why are you still dressed like a Jedi and running around like an idiot?”

“I take exception to that last part,” Durin said. “As for the first, I’m still a _Jedi_. I just don’t belong to the Order anymore. There’s no rule saying I couldn’t keep the clothes and they’re pretty comfortable.” He nodded at her sword. “Ready to go again?”

Bilba sighed. No. “Yes.”

He dropped back into a stance. “I’m disappointed.”

“By what?” Bilba asked. She'd been fighting quite well thank you very much.

“You haven’t recognized my fighting style.” When she didn’t respond he gave a theatrical sigh. “Form II? Makashi? The way of the Ysalamiri?”

Bilba frowned. “I’ve never heard of any of those forms.”

“It’s all the same form,” Durin's eyes narrowed. “I have no idea why it has so many names. Regardless, I thought it fitting given the circumstances.”

“You really are an idiot,” Bilba repeated. She transferred her weapon to one hand for a moment so she could clench and unclench her other hand, trying to get feeling back into her fingers.

Kili grinned suddenly. “You should really go ahead and give up now.”

“Really?” Bilba asked. “And why is that?”

He nodded past her shoulder. “Because I killed your ysalamiri five minutes ago.”

Bilba froze. “You _what_?”

She put her sword down and grabbed for the frame, unstrapping it and swinging it around in front of her. She knelt on one knee and found that, indeed, the creature was dead, the victim of a lightsaber swing she’d somehow missed. “You are such a bastard!”

He looked startled. “Are you actually angry at me for killing the damn thing?”

“It didn’t do anything to you!” Bilba shouted, looking up at him. It had been a nice creature, as far as furry lizard things went. She'd even started thinking about giving it a name, which she obviously couldn't do now since the jerk had _killed_ it.

Durin scowled and dropped to one knee in front of her, hand with deactivated lightsaber in it absently draped over said knee. "It was blocking me from using the Force.”

"Oh, like that would kill you," Bilba muttered.

He was close enough that she could almost physically feel him, a near electric current snapping the air between them. He was surprisingly attractive, her mind noted, and she immediately gave herself a mental kick for thinking something so stupid. His idiocy must be contagious.

He raised an eyebrow. “I think that was supposed to be the point of this whole endeavor, wasn’t it?”

Bilba rolled her eyes so hard it hurt. “If you can’t stop one bounty hunter without the use of your precious magic then you deserve to get killed!”

“It’s not magic!” He shifted and sat down on the countertop, crossed his legs and sat the hilt of his lightsaber next to him. “If you didn’t want it to die you shouldn’t have brought it.”

“I didn’t have much choice,” Bilba said without thinking.

That caught his interest and he tilted his head. “Really? And why is that?”

Bilba ignored him. She leaned over to set the frame on the floor, leaning against the counter. She then gripped her weapon in one hand and stood up. He stayed where he was, looking up at her.

Bilba sighed, and then tossed her weapon to the side where it landed with a clatter on the floor. “Just get it over with,” she said in resignation.

He raised an eyebrow. “Get what over with?”

“You know what,” Bilba said, her annoyance returning. “Kill me already. You have the upper hand.”

“Do I?” He pushed to his feet. “I seem to recall you having the upper hand, several times, and not taking it. Why is that?”

He’d been testing her, Bilba realized, leaving openings on purpose. “None of your business. Are you going to kill me or not?”

She should probably be more upset about it than she was but, at the moment, her annoyance level was so high it wasn't letting her feel much else. Rather than fear, she was simply irritated at the prospect of being killed by someone like Kili Durin.

“Are you going to tell me who sent you and why you’re so reluctant to kill me?” Durin asked.

“No,” Bilba responded shortly.

He made a tsk sound. “Then it looks as though we’re at an impasse.” He reached into a pocket on his robe and tossed something to her. She caught it on reflex and frowned. It was a credit chip.

“Drinks on me,” Durin said cheerfully. “You can buy the next round, when you catch up to me again.”

“I’m not buying you a drink,” Bilba sputtered but he was already turning on one heel, waving at her over his shoulder.

A second later he was out the door, leaving her staring at him in shock.

It was a good five minutes before she recovered enough to move. Then, with a growl of rage, she grabbed her vibroblade and the frame and stalked after him, shoving the credit chip in her pocket as she did.

She didn’t care how much she was being paid to go after Durin.

It wasn’t enough.

 _Nothing_ would ever be enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you planning to come home soon? Amad is worried about you."

Kili resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the small hologram of his brother. "She wasn't worried when she sent me off to the Jedi Academy for my entire childhood."

Fili's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms. He was wearing expensive looking robes, which meant he was probably in for a long day of meetings and public appearances. Such things always left him in a foul mood, and made Kili even happier to be far, far from home.

"She sent you to the Academy for training" his brother said evenly. "It was to help you."

"It was to see what use could be made of the spare," Kili retorted sharply. "And because people were afraid of me." Not every planet accepted, or even liked, Jedi. Superstition abounded everywhere, especially when someone was different or in touch with a power few understood.

_"Heard it before, still sounds like magic."_

The barest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. Thankfully, not _everyone_ felt that way. He leaned back to check the security feed he'd set up and tried not to feel disappointment that it still showed nothing but an empty room.

"Amad loves you, Kili," Fili's voice caught his attention. "As do the rest of us. It's not like we didn't want to visit, it's --"

"You couldn't be bothered to so much as send a letter, but none of you had any trouble showing up when I was eighteen to demand my return," Kili cut in. "Once you'd come up with a better use for me than languishing at the temple."

Bitterness leeched out in his voice and he scowled. The memory of one of his teachers at the Academy lecturing him on emotion and the dark side ran through his mind and he clenched his jaw in annoyance. Everyone was so quick to tell him how he should think and feel and behave. Not a single individual cared to _ask_ what _he_ wanted to do or how _he_ felt. None of them cared. He'd always been little more than a pawn, at home and the Academy.  

A flicker in the Force had him checking the video feed again, and this time he couldn't help the smile that jumped to his face.

"I have to go." He pushed to his feet, and carefully grabbed the small metal box that had been sitting on the table near him. "Bounty hunter is here."

"What?" Fili asked, alarm flickering across his features. "What bounty hunter?"

"Same one that's been after me the last month and a half," Kili said cheerfully. "I'll talk to you later."

"Wait," Fili said. "What bounty hunter? Are you --"

Kili cut off the holoprojector before his brother could finish, spun on one heel and exited the room, box tucked up under one arm.

He'd purposefully set himself up in an old warehouse on the outskirts of some nowhere planet in a forgotten part of the Outer Rim. The place was dark and run down, old bits of machinery and garbage littering every square inch. Creatures with bright, beady eyes lurked in shadowy corners and the entire place was thick with a stench he didn't care to identify, or ever experience again.

He'd been sitting in a small room on the second floor for hours and it felt good to stretch his legs as he moved in the darkness. Down below, he could hear the faintest sound of movement and he tracked it until he was certain he stood directly above it.

He put a hand on the railing separating the narrow strip of the second floor from the flat bay that made up the ground level, tested it for strength and then silently leapt onto it and knelt on the thin railing.

For a few seconds he saw nothing. Then the shadows directly below him shifted and a figure in, by now familiar, armor stepped out and stopped directly underneath where he crouched.

Kili grinned. This would be their second in-person meeting, but it was far from the first time he'd seen her. He was mildly surprised she hadn't picked up on it. He'd told her that he'd been aware of her following him for a month before their first meeting. Did she really think he'd just ignored her? Kept ahead of her until he felt like stopping and confronting her?

He'd tracked her down within a week. A week of feeling the dead spots, areas void of the Force flickering in and out of the periphery of his awareness. He'd assumed it was another bounty hunter, and he'd been more than ready to deal with the latest one in much the same way he'd dealt with all the others.

What he hadn't expected, when he'd finally found her, was to come upon her using her jetpack to rescue a child's ball from where they'd thrown it on top of a roof. He'd watched from a darkened alley as she'd then proceed to not only return it but to wrap her arms around the child's waist and lift off again, giving them a ride where they'd shrieked and laughed and thrown their arms out as if they were flying.

When she'd landed an entire line of small, excited children had been waiting for her and she'd proceeded to spend the next hour and a half giving every one of them a ride.

It was little wonder it'd been so hard for her to catch up to him.

He'd kept following her after that, partly because he was bored and partly because she was interesting. The more he saw, the more she surprised him, and the greater his interest had grown.

She treated everyone the same, from the noble strutting in expensive robes to the street urchin that spent an entire day following her, all the while chatting about nothing. She stopped to help people struggling under heavy loads, saved at least three from being mugged or otherwise beat up, and was constantly, and usually unsuccessfully, trying to pet small animals.

He saw the way her steps would slow when she spotted groups of people, particularly parents with children. How often she tried to engage people in conversation, only to trail off into silence when they bustled past her. How she once spent a half hour on a dark and cold corner, watching a gathering of some sort going on through the windows of a restaurant across the street. She'd been so still he'd been half-convinced her armor had malfunctioned and frozen her in place. He'd flinched in surprise when she'd finally stirred to life and headed off down the street.

"Damn it, Durin," he heard her whisper now, voice modulator in her helmet giving a depth and bass to her voice he was pretty sure it didn't have.

Mostly sure. All he knew about her physical appearance was that it was roughly humanoid. For all he knew she could have scales or fur, or both. Probably no horns or a tail unless they were very small and could be tucked away somewhere inside that armor.

She started to stalk toward the door. Kili smirked, straightened on the railing, and easily leapt off. Using the Force, he landed easily on the ground directly in front of her, lightly enough to avoid injury, but with enough power to ensure he made a suitable entrance.

Her reaction did not disappoint.

She shrieked in surprise and jerked back so hard she lost her balance. Before she could fall, Kili's free hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, yanking her back upright.

"Blast it, Durin!" she shouted, wrenching her hand free. She leaned forward and rested her hands on her legs to catch her breath. Kili felt just the slightest pang of guilt.

Just the slightest. More of a mild itch really.

"I heard you cursing my name," he said cheerfully. "I couldn't very well let that stand, could I?"

"You've let a lot stand then," she said, straightening. "I've been cursing your name since the first time I heard it."

"Yeah?" Kili asked. "And where would that have been?"

She ignored him, and instead drew the vibrosword at her side.

Kili raised an eyebrow. "Really? You want to use that again? It didn't go so well for you last time."

"Well, I could just shoot you," she muttered, drawing her blaster with her other hand.

“I have wondered why you haven't." He tilted his head at her. "Is your contract to kill me or capture me? Usually they're kill contracts, so it'd be a nice change of pace if it's capture this time around."

"Usually?" she asked. "Just how many--" she trailed off. "Never mind. It's you, everyone you meet probably wants you dead."

"Harsh," Kili said, amused. He'd been looking forward to getting to speak to her again all day and, so far, the experiencing was not disappointing. "And here I brought you a gift and everything."

He could almost picture the blank look on her face through the helmet; well, _a_ face since he had no way of knowing exactly what her actual face looked like.  

"You did what now?" she asked.

He stepped back and, with a flourish, knelt to set the box he carried on the floor. "A gift," he repeated. "I felt bad for killing your pet the last time around."

"It wasn't a pet!" she said defensively.

"Sure it wasn't. Anyway--" Kili pressed a corner of the box and the lid slid open. A moment later a small, black puff of fur with golden eyes popped its head over the edge and stared about inquisitively.

Over top of him, the bounty hunter made a strangled sound. "What. Is. That?"

Kili picked the small creature up and stood again. "This," he said cheerfully, "is a baby Spukamas. Corellians keep them as pets."

"That's not reassuring," she muttered. He held it out to her, and she took a step back. "I'm not taking that."

"Be nice," Kili said mildly. "You'll hurt her feelings." He set the kitten on the floor where it immediately began exploring, looking like little more than a black splotch on the ground.

She scowled, muttered something he didn't catch, and holstered the blaster. She raised the sword again and held it in both hands. "Come on, get your guard up, Durin. Unless you just want to give up now and get it over with."

"Really?" Kili asked, spreading his arms wide to indicate the room. "You want to fight here, now? What about the baby? She could get stepped on."

"I'll be careful," she said tightly.

"And who's going to watch her while we're fighting?" Kili asked, in as reasonable a voice as he could muster. "What if she gets into something, or gets eaten?"

The bounty hunter froze, and Kili saw her head turn toward where the small creature was happily toddling toward the far corner of the room. For several seconds she seemed torn, but then finally cursed, sheathed the sword and stalked over to pick the small animal up.

Spinning on her heel, she stormed back and held it out toward Kili. "Take it."

"Can't," Kili said, serious. "It's a gift. You accepted it. Taking it back would be a great insult in my culture."

"To which one of us?" she demanded.

He shrugged. "Who knows?" He started to step away from her, only to pause. "You know, since I was kind enough to give you a pet--"

"It's not kindness when you're replacing the one you killed," she cut in.

"So you admit it was a pet," Kili said, lifting a finger as if to punctuate his point.

She stared at him through the helmet and he had a sneaking suspicion she was envisioning different ways to kill him.

"Anyway," he continued, "the least you could do is tell me your name. I think I've earned that."

"You haven't earned anything," she growled. "We aren't friends."

"Not yet," Kili said mildly. As he said it, he was surprised at how much he wanted that to be true. She intrigued him, like no one else ever had, and he almost desperately wanted to know more about her.

She was staring down at the squirming animal in her hand. Her other hand came up slowly, almost hesitantly, to rest on its back, lightly stroking it as best she could with the large glove covering her fingers. "Where are her parents?"

"I don't know," Kili confessed. "I found her in a shelter. She wasn't even on Corellia. I imagine she hasn't had them in a long time."

"How sad," she murmured, still looking down at the small creature. "She's barely been alive."

"Well now she has you to make up for it," Kili said gently. He began to back up, already readying a witty retort for his departure, when she spoke again.

"Pollux Destron."

Her words were soft, nearly inaudible, but enough to freeze him where he stood. A burst of...something welled inside him. He couldn't put a name to it, not yet anyway, but he liked it. "Is that a name or title?"

"It's what you can call me." She set the Spukamas on the ground and watched it happily toddle around.

"All right," Kili said. "Are you going to tell me why you're after me?"

"You know why," she said shortly.

Kili sighed. "Fine. Are you going to tell me who sent you?" He smirked suddenly. "Or why you're clearly so reluctant? Let me guess, you're blinded by my attractiveness and don't want to risk marring perfection?"

She let out a harsh sigh and he saw her fingers spasm as if holding her blaster in them again. "We're not always given a choice in life," she said sharply. "Some of us less so than others."

"You suggested as much the last time around." Kili frowned. "So who has what over you? You're a bounty hunter, aren't you? How are you being forced to do anything you don't want to do?"

She gave a short laugh. "You'd be surprised at how often I'm forced to do things I don't want to do."

Kili blinked in surprise at the words. "I can understand that," he said after a minute, slowly.

"Can you?" she asked, almost to herself. The Spukamas was valiantly trying to climb her boot and she went to one knee to absently pet it again. This led to it attacking her glove, curling around her hand and gnawing on her fingers.

Kili cleared his throat, and she jumped in surprise. "Tragically, I don't see how we can fight in the presence of an infant so--" he gave a mock, exaggerated bow. "I'll take my leave until next we meet."

"What?" She freed her hand from the Spukamas and pushed to her feet. "Don't you dare!"

"Afraid I must," Kili said cheerfully, even as, surprisingly, he felt a genuine pang of regret for having to leave. He made it to the door. "Before I go, however, just to make it official--" he swept into an elaborate bow. "Kili Durin, at your service."

"I know who you are," she growled, hands curling into her fists. "Don't you dare leave this thing with me."

"You were told who I was," Kili said, ignoring the rest of what she'd said, "but now we've been properly introduced."

"Don't you --" she started to step forward, only to stop as she realized the Spukamas was still clutching her foot. "Damn it, Durin, don't you dare!"

Kili merely grinned, threw her a mock salute and, with flair, pushed through the doors and out onto the street. "You still owe me that drink," he called out as he let the door shut behind him.

The last her heard from behind him was her extremely creative swearing.

He was pretty sure half of what she said wasn't anatomically possible.

***

It was some time later that Kili found himself in the cramped quarters he'd booked on a space liner. It was uncomfortable, and a far cry from what he could have at home, but he'd take it any day. Better cramped and free than living in luxury with his every minute pre-planned out for him by others.

_"You'd be surprised at how often I'm forced to do things I don't want to do."_

The words ran through his mind again and he frowned. "And why is that?"

She was a bounty hunter, accepting her own contracts and setting her own schedule. She lived with the sort of freedom many could only dream about, so how was it possible she wouldn't be in control of her own fate?

He'd almost suspect she knew more about him than she let on and was trying to manipulate him, except he'd sensed nothing of the kind from her. No duplicity at all in fact, just annoyance and a vague, underlying fear that was always present with her. That was another thing he wondered about, what was she so afraid of?

He hesitated, and then pulled out the small holoprojector he'd shoved into his pocket earlier in the day. Fili had been trying to contact him on and off for ages, so he set it down on the table and activated it.

Fili appeared within minutes, looking harried and quite annoyed. "Damn it, Kili. What took you so long? We were about to send the fleet after you."

"Sure you were," Kili said. He frowned. "You know, that's the third or fourth time someone has cursed at me today."

"I can't imagine why," Fili said dryly. "Perhaps you just bring it out of them."

"Perhaps," Kili agreed. He settled back in his seat. "I need you to do something for me."

Fili crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do you now?"

"I do." Kili leaned forward. "I need you to find out all the information you can on Pollux Destron."

"Pollux Destron?" Fili repeated. "Is that the bounty hunter that was after you?"

"Do it quietly," Kili said. "I don't want her hearing about it."

The last thing he wanted to do was spook her and have her vanish. He'd watched her for a month and found she was the most fascinating person he'd ever seen. Then he'd interacted with her twice and had found himself only more captivated.

"Her?" Fili asked. "Kili, you're not--"

"Sooner rather than later," Kili broke in.

He knew he'd gone too far the second he spoke, impatience making him a bit stupid, but it was too late to take it back.

Fili frowned. "If I do it, will you agree to speak to Amad?"

Kili scowled. "I'll consider it."

Fili shrugged. "Fine, then I'll 'consider' doing your research for you."

"All right," Kili growled. "I'll do it, but research first." He hesitated. "And leave her alone, Fili. I just want to know who she is, that's all."

Fili studied him, an annoying, knowing look in his eyes. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Don't I always?" Kili asked with a grin.

"No," Fili said shortly, "and that's what worries me."

He ended the call and Kili settled back in his seat with a grin.

He was already looking forward to the next time he saw her.  


	3. Chapter 3

Bilba crouched low in the shadows, idly chewing on her lower lip as she waited. The alley was cramped, and narrow and filled with enough refuse and other...things to make her exceptionally grateful to have a helmet that could filter out smell.

A nearby rustle drew her attention to a drunk who'd been sleeping against the far wall for the last few hours. She worried for a moment he was waking up and might do something stupid to give away her position, but he only mumbled to himself and rolled over.

Laughter from the street had her shifting focus back as a group of young people close to her own age wandered past.

A wistful sense of longing ran through her as she watched them go. Had things been different, that could have been her. No need for armor or pretending to be someone else, no fears or concerns about the future. No constant worry about trusting the wrong person.

She would have liked having friends.

Her legs were beginning to cramp again, so she carefully pushed to her feet, making sure to move slowly and stay in the shadows. The sun had gone down ages ago, leaving the street darkened but for a few pale pools of light from various businesses here and there. It made her job both harder and easier at the same time.

The door of the squat, non-descript building across the street hissed open and a man shuffled out. He was short with an average build and greasy gray hair tied back in a low ponytail.

Bilba's gut clenched with nerves. He headed off down the street and, after a deep breath and a few seconds lead time, she followed.

She could do this, she told herself firmly, as she fell in behind the man. She was keeping to the shadows just like her father had trained her, and leaving enough lead time that he would, hopefully, not hear her steps. She'd been trained by the best, and that meant she could absolutely do this.  

The man turned down a side alley and Bilba hurried after him, hoping desperately he hadn't realized she was behind him and was now waiting for her She pressed against the wall, grateful the idiot had waited until dark to come out, and then carefully peeked around the corner.

Her target was halfway down the alley, hands in his pocket and head hunched down. Bilba forced herself to take another deep breath, stepped into the alley, pulled her blaster, aimed and fired.

The bolt hit the man square in his back, then spread to briefly outline him in blue. Sensors in her helmet adjusted to the sudden blast of light automatically, preserving her night vision and allowing her to see as her target crumpled to the ground.

Bilba gave herself a second to bask in the feeling of victory before she holstered her blaster, quickly strode forward and had a pair of stuncuffs on the man before the effects of the blast could wear off. She stood still for a few seconds after but heard no sounds outside the alley. Apparently, the upside of a seedy area like this was that the sound of blaster fire was so common no one gave much thought or notice to it.

Lucky her.

It was a few minutes before the man started to wake up and, once he did, she was able to haul him to his feet and have him at her ship and safely in a cell before he was lucid enough to do much more than mumble a few dire threats.

Really, the whole thing was rather...anticlimactic to be honest. Her father's tales of going after hardened criminals were always filled with tales of blaster fights and frantic chases across rooftops. Bilba's, to date, had mostly involved walking up to people and punching them, but she'd assumed she just wasn't going after the right sorts of people.

Maybe criminals had just gotten more boring since her father had done it?

She left the idiot screaming incoherently threats and made her way up to the flight deck. As she passed the door leading to the galley, the faintest hint of smoke caught her attention and she sighed in resignation.

She really needed to invest in a better locking mechanism for her ship.

She strode toward the door, removing her helmet as she did and shaking out the mass of chestnut colored hair that, yet again, had managed to mostly escape the bun she'd forced it into. She would cut it, if it weren't for the fact that it had an aggressive wave and got more out of control the shorter it was. Just one more thing in her life that stubbornly refused to cooperate.

A cool blast of fresh air hit her in the face once the helmet was off, and she took a second to simply relax. She'd loved the suit once, back when she didn't have to wear it all the time. Now, she appreciated what it did for her but hated the fact she had to practically live in the thing.

The galley door hissed open and she entered, eyes immediately going to the man leaning back in a chair at the small table bolted into the sidewall. He had long, white hair tied back in a ponytail and sported non-descript robes that could have come from any number of planets.

He wasn't smoking that infernal pipe of his, which was lucky for him as she'd have thrown it out an airlock. He knew how she felt about pipe smoke stinking up her ship. It took ages for the air scrubbers to get rid of it.

Currently, he was dangling a piece of string for the Spukamas kitten, who was leaping about and doing her best to catch it.

"I didn't know you'd gotten a pet," he said mildly.

"I didn't know it was any of your business." As she spoke, Bilba began to remove her armor and stack it in a corner, leaving her in a black body suit. Normally, she changed from that into a loose-fitting pair of shorts and a tank top but, since she had an unwanted guest, she settled for taking her shoes and gloves off. She was so used to wearing the boots, which contained lifts that made nearly a foot taller, that it never ceased to surprise her to step down and remember how short she actually was. She pulled the padded gloves off and dropped onto the bench on the other side of the table. "What do you want, Gandalf?"

"I promised your mother I'd check in on you from time to time," he said simply. "So here I am."

Bilba grimaced at the mention of her mother. She didn't like thinking about her, or her father.

"I'm fine," she said, sharply. "So you can go on and head off back to wherever it is you go."

Gandalf tilted his head slightly. The Spukamas kitten strolled over to headbutt Bilba's hand and she absently scratched its neck.

"I see you brought in a bounty," he mused. "What is he wanted for?"

Bilba rolled her eyes at him, her ire rising. "Assault."

Gandalf nodded as if he didn't already know that. "I thought you only went after lesser crimes?"

"Lesser crimes don't pay enough." The Bastard had waved a massive credit chip in her face but refused to let her keep it until she produced results, which left her needing credits. Not only that but her father had been well known for going after the worst of the worst, priding himself on their capture. He'd seen himself as a hero, doing his own small part to rid the universe of its scum and villainy.

If Pollux Destron suddenly started exclusively hunting down those who'd abandoned their debts, or were wanted for things like petty theft, people were going to notice.

"Hmm," Gandalf had that all-knowing look in his eyes and Bilba had to resist the urge to throw something at him. "And what about this other contract I hear you've taken? For a Jedi?"

Bilba's eyes narrowed. "Just say what you came to say, Gandalf. You clearly already know everything."

He had a terrible habit of being vague and talking around subjects rather than just addressing whatever topic he wanted. She imagined it came from his days of being heavily involved in politics and diplomacy, where every word was analyzed and picked apart by each side as they struggled for the advantage in negotiations.

Gandalf sighed. "You're targeting Kili Durin?"

Bilba scowled. "Not from choice, believe me." He frowned, and Bilba let out a huff of annoyance. "I was forcibly dragged before a new 'employer' who said I could either hunt down Durin or they'd let Shire know how to find me."

Gandalf's eyes darkened. "Are you sure he knew who you were?"

"He used my title." Bilba said flatly. Her worthless title. She'd happily give it up but, unfortunately, those who hunted her were less concerned about the title than the blood in her veins and that couldn't be so easily cast aside.

"You should have let me know--" Gandalf started, only to stop as Bilba bristled and cut him off.

"You were my mother's advisor," she said sharply. "You're not mine. I've told you before, I neither need nor want your help."

Her mother had both needed, and wanted, her father's help and look where that had gotten her.

Look where it had gotten them both.

No, it was better if she just...stayed alone. At least then she'd be the only one that would suffer when those hunting her finally caught up to her. And catch up they would. It wasn't a question of if, only when.

Gandalf was giving her that exasperated look that so annoyed her. It was as if every time he looked at her he still saw the child clinging to her mother's skirts, and not the young woman she'd become.

"The Durin family is not one you wish to make an enemy of," he said gravely.

"Well, neither is the bastard who's forcing me to go after him." Bilba muttered.

Gandalf raised an eyebrow. "Do you know him?"

Bilba shook his head. "No, just what he looks like."

She couldn't even say for sure what planet she'd been on. They'd lured her to Naboo with a false bounty, jumped her and locked her in what was little more than a closet on a ship. No one had spoken to her on the trip, not until she'd been taken in to see the bastard himself.

She'd never been so scared in all her life.

She'd thought for sure, for _sure_ that it was Shire. That they'd finally found her, and she was being taken to her own execution. A lot of her anger at the bastard had been born of that, and the relief that it hadn't been her worst fear come to life after all.

At least not yet.

The bridge of her nose began to burn, and she let out a hiss of disgust before lifting a hand to wipe at her eyes. Gandalf reached out a hand as if to grip hers, but Bilba shot him an irritated look and jerked back. The action disturbed the Spukamas, who'd been using her hand as a pillow. It made an aggrieved sound before stalking over to the edge of the table, crouched and then leapt to the nearby counter to glare at her in silent judgement.

Bilba glared back.

Gandalf cleared his throat. "As I was saying, the Durins are not a family you want as enemies, and Kili Durin most of all."

Bilba dragged her eyes back to him. "Kili Durin," she repeated flatly. "I don't want _Kili Durin_ as an enemy?"

Gandalf looked confused, which Bilba was certain was an expression she'd never seen on him before. "Kili Durin is a Jedi, and well acquainted with bounty hunters. At last count, he'd successfully dispatched sixteen of them."

Now it was Bilba's turn to look confused. "Dispatched? As in killed?"

Gandalf nodded. "On their initial meeting. Kili isn't one known to show mercy to those threatening him or his family."

Bilba laughed. She didn't mean to, really, it just kind of slipped out. "You must be joking. Kili Durin is obnoxious, hyperactive and a jerk but he's not some sort of..." she hesitated, trying to think of a proper term, "bounty hunter killer," she finished lamely.

As she spoke, she tried to picture Durin battling bounty hunters, or simply being serious. The image simply wouldn't come. She'd met him four times now and had yet to see proof he was even _capable_ of being serious.

She nodded toward where the Spukamas was sleeping on the counter. "I keep telling him to take her back, but he refuses." The last time she'd brought the small animal with her and tried to physically hand her over, only to have Durin cross his arms, raise an eyebrow and flat out refuse to take her.

He was _such_ a jerk.

Gandalf blinked, his eyes going to the small animal and then back again to her. "You've met him already," he said, the words a statement rather than a question, "and he gave you the animal?"

"And, here I am," Bilba put her arms out in an exaggerated and, to be honest, slightly, insulting manner. "Not dispatched."

Gandalf stared at her for several long minutes and then, bizarrely, suddenly slapped his hands on the table and stood up. "Well, as I said, I just wanted to see how you were doing, my dear. I must be off."

"What?" Bilba stood up as well. "You're leaving?" She usually had to practically threaten the man to get him to leave, and here he was voluntarily leaving? "Where are you going?"

"To try and discover who this new employer of yours is," Gandalf said as he headed out the door and toward the ship's exit. "And then to continue my efforts to see to your future safety."

Bilba made a disgusted sound. "You shouldn't. You know what happens to people who get involved."

Gandalf stopped mid-stride and turned to face her. "Your father's fate will not be mine, and nor will your mother's fate be yours."

Bilba blinked in surprise, and then cursed as her vision blurred. She shook her head sharply and turned her back. "You don't know what you're talking about, as usual. Just get out."

There was silence, and then she felt his hand clasp her shoulder. She resisted, but then reached up and silently grasped his hand in return. After a minute he tugged his free, and then he was gone, footsteps sounding down the gangplank of her ship.

Bilba waited for the steps to fade before turning to hit the controls to raise the plank. Once it was up, she allowed herself to lean against the door for a few minutes, before getting control of herself and heading back toward her original destination.

She was going to Coruscant to drop the guy in her holding cell off, and then she was going to collect the bounty and go get a drink. For herself. And she would bring it back to the ship so she could drink it and not think about the Shire or Gandalf or the bastard or Kili Durin or anything else that might --

Her comm started beeping as soon as she stepped up behind the pilot's chair, almost as if someone knew the moment she'd gotten within range.

"Unbelievable." She stomped over and hit the button to bring up the holovid, already prepared to let Gandalf have it. Trust him to get so involved in his dramatic exit that the forgot to --

Her train of thought came to a screeching halt as the small figure of the bastard appeared on the small dais. Belatedly, Bilba realized she'd been so flustered by Gandalf's visit, and so convinced it was him on the comm, that she'd forgotten to go put her helmet back on. Whatever small question the bastard may have had about her identity, it was certainly gone now.

"Your Highness," he said coolly. "I question your lack of progress in the assignment I gave you."

Bilba crossed her arms and put on what she hoped was a blank expression. Outside of Gandalf, she rarely interacted with people without her helmet and had lost the practice of controlling her expressions. "He's a Jedi," she said shortly, "and he moves constantly. It takes ages to catch up with him, and he's barely there a day or two before he's off again."

"Perhaps he wouldn't move as much had you been more careful about tipping him off to your presence," the bastard replied. "I do recall giving you aid in that aspect."

"The lack of the Force tips him off." Bilba slid into her seat and began the process of powering up her ship. "I'm doing my best."

That wasn't...entirely the truth, but she felt no compunction to be completely honest with someone who'd kidnapped her, blackmailed her and forced her to hunt a Jedi against her will.

The bastard's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps I should put out a rumor of your identity, just to encourage you."

Bilba paused and lifted her eyes from the controls to look at him. "If I'm having to run from my own bounty hunters, it'll just ensure I'm even slower." She looked down again. "I said I'm doing my best. Threatening me isn't going to magically cause some sort of improvement."

He was silent, and then said, "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I'll simply offer the bounty to a few more...experienced hunters."

Bilba froze, and it took all she had not to visibly react. "You should have done that to begin with." She fought to keep her voice level and, really, it shouldn't have been that hard. What did she care what happened to Durin?  

The bastard smirked. "Oh, don't misunderstand me, my dear. I very much enjoy having a bounty hunter on a leash, but it only goes so far as that hunter is useful to me." He held the chip up; the same one he'd shown her when initially demanding she go after Durin. "I'll offer this to whomever is capable of bringing me Durin's head. If it's not you--" here he paused to give her a truly evil. "Well, then I suppose you'll be of little use to me, won't you?"

The holovid cut out before she could even think of a response, leaving Bilba frozen and staring at the empty spot with wide eyes. She swallowed down a suddenly dry throat and then forced herself to resume readying her ship for departure.

Her fingers tapped a nervous pattern on the controls, and she stared blankly ahead at nothing.

She should be happy. More bounty hunters increased the odds that someone else could take care of Durin and then she could just...run away. She'd have to change her identity, but she could manage. The bastard could threaten her all he wanted, and even out her to Shire, but none of it meant anything if neither entity could find her.

So she should be happy. No more having to see Durin or listen to his inane chatter or have him try to dump unwanted animals off on her and no more worry about having to kill someone innocent even if he was the most annoying man she'd ever met. She didn't even _like_ him, and she certainly didn't look forward to seeing him and she wasn't stupid or pathetic enough to think of them as anything remotely resembling _friends_.

So... happy. Not hollow, or sad and the thought of her future stretching out before her shouldn't suddenly seem so...empty.

She should be happy.

 

So why did it feel so much like she'd just been kicked in the gut?


	4. Chapter 4

The Bastard waited exactly two days before doing as he'd threatened. One of Bilba's contacts sent her word of the additional bounty hunters he'd hired to go after Kili Durin.  

The new bounty specifically requested the presence of Kili Durin's corpse in order to collect.

It did not specify that the corpse had to be in one piece.

Bilba was startled at the way her stomach dropped when she read it. She felt strangely hot, and a sick feeling settled over her. It was ridiculous, irrational, and deeply annoying.

She did _not_ care that other bounty hunters might be going after Kili Durin. She didn't. She told herself that, over and over as she delivered the man in her cell to the proper authorities, collected the bounty, and left again.

She told herself that for the next three days as she went on other jobs, ignoring the near itching feeling under her skin, the way her mind kept going toward him to wonder if he was all right or if the bounty hunters had caught up to him yet.

She didn't care. Kili Durin was obnoxious, annoying, arrogant, and an all-around pain in the ass and the _only_ reason she started tracking him down after three days was because of the bastard's threat about what would happen if she didn't prove useful to him.

The _only_ reason.

She tracked him to some rural planet she couldn't be bothered to remember the name of (it wasn't as if it mattered, since Kili changed planets the way some changed shoes) with rolling hills and quaint cities built to blend into nature rather than replace it.

Most people would have probably found it quiet and peaceful, but Bilba couldn't stop the way her stomach clenched from the moment she set foot on the surface.

It reminded her far too much of Shire.

In addition to the near constant anxiety _that_ caused, she'd barely slept in days and had found her appetite entirely gone any time she sat down to try and eat.

The sooner she could find her competition, get rid of them, and leave this planet behind the better.

Fortunately, step one was already done. The upside to this sort of planet was that people like bounty hunters were rare and tended to stand out like a sore thumb. That, of course, meant _she_ stood out like a sore thumb as well, but there was little she could do about it.

Her father would have just taken his armor off to blend in. Bilba didn't have that luxury, not when she was the spitting image of her mother. Not when her picture was plastered on bounty posters littered across the known galaxy.

Really, Shire should be ashamed. They always touted their care and concern for the environment but then they went and littered others with paper bounties when they could have done it all digitally. Only one of the many ways the so-called peaceful and quiet planet proved its hypocrisy.  

Currently, she was in an alleyway across the street from a building the two bounty hunters she was tracking had entered. Another alleyway. Sometimes it seemed all she did was spend time in alleyways watching people. It did make her wonder, at times, just what it was she was doing wrong. She didn't recall her father having spent quite so much time in alleyways.

"So," a low voice said right over her shoulder, "what are we doing?"

The first time Bilba's father had snuck up behind her, on accident, Bilba had responded, quite reasonably she thought, by screaming and spinning around. Her father had strongly disagreed with that reaction which had led to months of him sneaking up on her and surprising her every chance he got. Until, finally, she'd learned to react offensively instead of defensively.

She hadn't been surprised since his death but felt he'd have been proud to find her reflexes had not dulled.

Mostly not dulled. There had been that incident in the warehouse but that had _not_ been her fault because who expected someone to drop on them from above? Besides, it had been a _Jedi_. One could not be faulted for getting surprised by a Jedi.

One could, however, be praised for _not_ getting surprised by them a second time.

Her blaster appeared in her hand almost on its own as she spun, pushing to her feet to gain a height advantage on the person crouched behind her. It was unlikely he'd been trained the same way so she should have --

An invisible force wrenched the blaster out of her grip and, in the next second, she found herself being bodily pinned against the wall.

Damn it.

Her father would have been far less proud of that.

Still, same person, and still a Jedi so still not her fault.

"Damn it, Durin," she ordered. "Let go!"

Kili's only response was halfway between a grin and a smirk. He was pressed full length against her, pinning her to the wall, and had his hands flat on the brick on either side of her head. Her arms were free, but with the way he was positioned there was little she could do unless she randomly wanted to hug him and there was _zero_ chance that would be happening.

Mentally, she made a note to always wear her jetpack even on days it was malfunctioning and mostly useless. Had she worn it; he'd have had a much harder time pinning her.

"You're the one who pulled a blaster on me," the Jedi said serenely. "It'd be foolhardy to let you go, wouldn't it?"

He shifted against her and Bilba sucked in a breath as an odd, almost electric feeling ran through her. "Knock it off."

He raised an eyebrow. "Knock what off?"

"Whatever you're doing with your magic powers." She tried to buck in the hopes of throwing him off, but he was as unmovable as the brick wall behind her. With the enhancements to her armor even her father would have at least moved a little. Bilba started mentally checking through planets with humanoid inhabitants who exhibited denser bodies or above average strength. Perhaps she could find some weaknesses to help her the next time around.

The fact she was already thinking about the next time, as if conceding she'd lost this time, was deeply annoying.

Kili gave her an amused look for some bizarre reason before suddenly stepping back and releasing her. He held out her blaster and, after a second, Bilba snatched it away from him and holstered it.

"Where have you been?" Kili crossed his arms and put his weight on his back leg. "I was starting to worry."

Bilba frowned in irritation. "Why? No one else does."

That wasn't _entirely_ true. Gandalf worried, too much sometimes, but it stemmed from loyalty to her mother. He checked up on her because of his love for Belladonna, not so much because he cared about _her_.

Kili's eyes narrowed. "No one?"

"Not anymore." Her words were barely a whisper and a melancholy slipped over her as she remembered back to when both her parents had been alive.

Kili was suddenly in her face and she startled back a step.

"All right," he said, face serious. "What'd you do to the baby Spukamas, Bounty Hunter?"

Bilba's eyes widened and she was startled at the spike of hurt that raced through her. "Nothing! She was tearing up the blanket on my bed when I left!"

He gave her an exaggerated, pointed look and, with a start, she realized he was teasing her. She shoved at his shoulder in annoyance, only to give a shout of surprise when he grabbed her wrist, wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her against him.

"What are you--" She barely had a chance to process before his eyes darted to the side and he was pulling them both back, against the wall.

"Looks like your friends are on the move."

"What?" Bilba pulled free from him and leaned forward, one hand pressed against his chest (for _balance_ ) to look around the corner. On the far side of the street, the two bounty hunters had left the building and were continuing their way up the street. "They aren't my friends," she said, looking back at him. "They're yours." At his questioning look she sighed and added, "Apparently I wasn't killing you fast enough, so my _employer_ expanded the bounty."

"Did he now?" Kili grinned at her. "And did you come all this way to warn me? I'm touched."

Bilba rolled her eyes inside her helmet. "Don't be absurd. I came to get rid of them so I could kill you myself. It's a big bounty."

"It usually is," he mused. His attention was only half on her as he leaned out to watch the two go, one hand on his lightsaber.

It was very insulting. He should be worried about the bounty hunter currently in the alley with him, not the ones walking away.

"I caught a guy wanted for assault," she blurted.

He straightened and gave her a surprised look that only served to irritate her even more. "Did you?"

"Yes," Bilba said testily. "And I did it by myself, in case you were wondering."

"I wasn't," Kili said with a grin. "Good for you."

Bilba studied him, suspicious, but couldn't find any hint that he was mocking her. Finally, she let out a huff and asked. "Did you really kill sixteen bounty hunters?"

Interest sparked in his eyes. "Now who told you that?"

"None of your business," she grumbled. "Did you?"

"Hmmm." He unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and held it loosely in one hand. "I don't think it's quite fair for you to be doing all the asking and me all the answering, do you?"

"Since when are there rules?" Bilba asked in confusion.

His only response was a bright grin. "Might want to watch your back."

"What?" Bilba turned, and felt her eyes widen at the sight of one of the bounty hunters running straight at them from the other end of the alley. At the same time, she heard a blaster from behind her along with the snap hiss of a lightsaber igniting and blocking the bolt.

The one she was facing was already raising his blaster and, without hesitating, Bilba snapped hers out and began firing. She didn't bother aiming, she just fired, hoping to force him onto the defensive.

The strategy worked and the man ducked behind a nearby waste compactor with a curse.

Kili turned and stepped up beside her. "Seventeen," he said cheerfully. He pointed toward where the second bounty hunter was still crouched in hiding. As he did, Bilba noted that his lightsaber hilt appeared to be gold, and sported a bright, gold crackling blade to match.

Bilba frowned. "Isn't that a little flashy for a Jedi?"

"Not a Jedi anymore, remember?" he corrected cheerfully.

"Are you always so cheerful?" Bilba asked in exasperation and, if possible, his grin only got wider.

"Only when I'm around you."

Bilba jerked and was suddenly extremely grateful for her armor and helmet as it hid the heat flaring across her face.

Kili started down the alley and Bilba hurried to catch up. She held her blaster at the ready, trained on the area where she knew the other bounty hunter hid. Kili held his lightsaber in a seemingly casual grip at his side, but she noticed it never went anywhere near his legs or came anywhere close to her.

The second bounty hunter, a middle-aged man with graying hair and an eyepatch who reminded Bilba far too much of her father, didn't move as they advanced on him. His blaster was on the ground and he held both hands up in a universal gesture of surrender.

"I've no argument with you," he said as Kili stopped in front of him. "The bounty failed to mention you were a Jedi."

Kili held his free hand out. "Let me see it and I'll consider us even."

 The man hesitated. "I'm afraid I don't have it. The bounty was given to me personally," his eyes flickered toward Bilba with a mildly confused look. "Me and a few others."

"By who?" Kili demanded.

"I don't know," the man said. "Just that the bounty was...quite high."

It was nothing Bilba hadn't told him, and she felt an irrational burst of pride for him to know that she'd been honest.

Kili sighed, and then his lightsaber shut off, the hum dying away to silence. "Get out of my sight."

His voice was cold, expression flat and, suddenly, Bilba could well imagine him "dispatching" sixteen other bounty hunters.

Correction: Seventeen.

The other bounty hunter scrambled to his feet, and began to walk briskly down the alleyway, head down. As she watched him go, Bilba's heart began to race and a feeling of fierce cold ran through her.

He would report back to the Bastard. She knew he would and then the Bastard would know she'd helped Kili avoid death. Not stopped the other bounty hunters to claim the reward herself, but actively aided Kili in stopping them.

Her hand tightened on her blaster, and she tentatively raised it to aim at the bounty hunter's back. It would all be meaningless if he got away. Everything her mother had sacrificed, everything her father had sacrificed, everything _she_ had sacrificed.

The bastard would reveal her identity and Pollux Destron would be dead in truth. She'd never be able to use his name again, or her armor, or even the ship which was the only home she'd ever known. She'd have literally nothing left.

Her breathing sounded harsh inside the helmet and it was hot, so bloody hot. She felt beads of sweat running down her face, and a tremor running through her body that caused the blaster to waver in her hand. Her heart was thudding in her chest and she felt almost disconnected, as if she were an observer watching her body.

The bounty hunter turned the corner, and Bilba sagged, breathing escaping her in a rush of air. By not shooting him, she'd just lost everything.

If she had shot him, she'd have lost it anyway.

"I won't prove them right," she whispered. "I'm not what they say I am."

"No," Kili's voice came quietly from beside her. "You're not."

Bilba flinched. She'd managed to forget he was there. He'd seen her, she realized, aiming at the man's back. Deep shame flooded her, and she spun on one heel and started walking.

Kili stepped in her way and she stopped. "Get out of my way."

She needed to get back to her ship, try and contact the Bastard before the other guy could. Maybe, just maybe, if she could spin a story, convince him somehow. She'd promise to get him Kili, even if he was freaking terrifying when he was facing people he didn't like.

She froze. The words ran through her mind, and then again. He...liked her. He must because he treated her differently than anyone else. Right? He'd gotten her a pet and then...earlier...he'd kept grabbing and touching her...which meant...

But...wait...

He thought she was her father. He thought she was Pollux Destron so that meant...that meant...

"Hey," Kili snapped his fingers in front of her. "Are you all right?"

The barest germ of an almost, sort of idea started to form inside Bilba's mind and, with it, the tiniest bit of hope. She could still fix this. She could. She could fix it because Kili liked her, which meant he was at a disadvantage and _that_ meant she had an advantage the other bounty hunters didn't.

She could spin that...tell the bastard it was all part of a long con. He'd killed seventeen other hunters, avoided her for months, it was obvious going after him using conventional methods didn't work. So she'd gotten creative and _that_...that was what the other bounty hunter had witnessed.

She lifted her eyes to meet Kili's and pretended she didn't at all feel even a hint of guilt, or pain, or disappointment. She holstered her weapon, clenched her hands into fists as much as her gloves would allow and stepped past him to continue walking.

This time, he let her go.

A job, she told herself as she left him behind. Just sweat in her eyes causing them to burn and run. Just adrenaline from the fight leaving her shaking and her gut clenching. Just worry over convincing that bastard creating a rush of nausea and the taste of bile at the back of her throat.

Nothing more than that.

Nothing at all.

***

It took every ounce of willpower Kili possessed to not go after her. The only thing that ultimately held him back was knowing just how little she'd want it.

Her emotions were a mess.

She hadn't killed that bounty hunter, hadn't wanted to even, but almost had anyway. Almost had, and the terror she'd felt at his escape had been almost palpable.

He still didn't know who the asshole controlling her was, but he didn't care as much anymore. He wanted to know who _she_ was, and what it was that scared her so badly she'd consider shooting a man in the back over it.

Fili had no idea, and neither did any of his contacts. Pollux Destron had worked alone, from all reports. No partners, and certainly no female partners. Fili had speculated she was a former lover, but the way she'd reacted to him flirting with her proved that wasn't true. He doubted she'd had any romantic experience at all, much less one with a noted bounty hunter.

She'd clearly never killed either. Pollux Destron had, but not her. There was nothing about her, really, that fit the idea of a bounty hunter. She had the posturing and bravado down, and he was sure it worked well enough to fool anyone who didn't talk to her more than a few minutes.

But he had, and had seen the scared, out of her element girl hiding within the armor. The question then was just who was she, and how in the world had she ended up pretending to be a bounty hunter?

He didn't have any of the answers he wanted yet, but he would.

It would simply take time.

Fortunately, he had plenty to spare.

 


End file.
